"He’ll be okay,” Myungsoo said out loud, as much a reassurance for Sungyeol, who was trembling beside him, as for himself. But his words fell flat in the room, empty of movement, empty of joy, empty of color.

Woohyun stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His face was pale and drawn, and his eyes were underscored with dark bags. Huffing out a frustrated breath, he dropped his head and scrubbed his hands through his hair. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and breathed in sharply.

Be strong, Woohyun-ah. Sunggyu-hyung will make it through. He can make it through anything.

He gripped the edge of the counter with both hands and ground his teeth together.

Ha, he laughed at himself. Some ‘best friend’ you are. Couldn’t even tell that anything was wrong.

He jumped as his phone rang out in the silence of the bathroom. Recognizing the ringtone to be Kibum’s, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered the call.

"I just heard,” Kibum’s voice crackled through the tinny speakers. “How is he doing?”

Woohyun released a shuddering breath, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Not good. The doctor–” His voice broke, so he swallowed and steadied himself. “The doctor says he doesn’t know why hyung isn’t waking up.”

"Can I do anything, Namu-yah?” his best friend asked gently.

Hearing the affectionate nickname and remembering how Sunggyu would call him that sometimes, he started sobbing, his strong mask falling to pieces.

"I need you here, Kibum-ah. I need him to wake up. I need...” he gasped for breath and choked on his next words. “I need him to stay alive–I need him to stay–but I don’t know if he can.”

Woohyun dropped to the ground and buried his face in his knees.

"I can’t do this. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t want him to die, Kibum, but it seems like that’s what’s going to happen.”

"Woohyun–”

"Kibum,” he cut off his best friend.

A pause.

"Yeah?”

"I’m scared that he might die.”

I am so sorry that I haven't updated in the past year (yikes it's been so long) but I was dealing with a lot of personal issues. I have had (and still have) depression and social anxiety for a while, but last year it just all kind of hit me really hard, and while I was struggling to keep my head above water, I just didn't really remember to tell you guys that I wouldn't be updating for a while. 

I am back now, however, and will be working on the next few chapters. As an apology for letting you guys hang for so long, here's a (short-ish) double update! The updating might be really slow-going because I'm trying to figure out where I want to go with this story, but I promise I will be updating. Thank you for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed these chapters :)